I tend to prefer s/he. Elegant, and it makes the point. The problem is replacing the possessives "his and her" -- since otherwise you have to switch case if you want to be fair.
Cheers,
Cat Hebert
-------------------------------
In
a preoperative exam, a cardiologist is more concerned
with whether a patient's heart can withstand surgery
than with what kind of surgery she is to have. Of
course, such narrow focus does not always lead to
wrong-site surgery, but it does "decrease the
likelihood that patient will be surrounded by caregivers who
know the patient," Dr. Becher said. NYT, Sunday,
April 1
"She" as a generic pronoun has made it into the Times, not exactly a
radic-lib-fem publication.
As to whether men mind the use of "she" as the generic, there's a great
birthday song with a line: "I am a woman who reveres history's march
across my years." When it's a man's birthday and I say, 'Woman includes
man,' he invariably laughs nervously.
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